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Scarborough: 'I have no plans to run in 2016'

By Dylan Byers

09/11/12 05:15 PM EDT

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough says he has no plans to run in 2016, despite a report in Vanity Fair that suggests otherwise.

"I have no plans to run in 2016," Scarborough told POLITICO today, following a report by Douglas Brinkley stating that Scarborough's forthcoming memoir would "serve... as a vehicle to test the waters for a presidential run in 2016."

According to MSNBC, Vanity Fair's inteview and photo shoot with Scarborough and his 'Morning Joe' co-host Mika Brzeznski actually took place in 2010, when talk about Scarborough's political ambitions centered on the 2012 election.

"We had the photo shoot and spoke to them in 2010, and they asked me if I was running in 2012. I said no, but did say that Bloomberg's people and some of my friends had been talking about the possibility of us getting together and discussing possibilities in 2012 -- but we never actually sat down and talked about it," Scarborough said. "We were talking generally about 2012, but I never said I was going to run, and there was no reason why I would have said that."

Scarborough also sought to temper the idea that his reported suggestion of a 2016 run was a dismissal of Mitt Romney's chances at securing the presidency in November. "There's still a 50-50 chance that Mitt Romney is going to win," he said.

Regarding the disparity between his claim and Vanity Fair's report, Scarborough said that while he never said anything to Brinkley about 2016, it was possible that, "six to nine months ago," MSNBC spokespeople may have mentioned something regarding 2016 while discussing his forthcoming memoir. But even Vanity Fair's date for that memoir was "no longer accurate," MSNBC spokesperson Lauren Skowrosnki said. "We don't even have a pub date on the book," she said.

Still, while Scarborough said he had no plans to run for president at the moment, he did not rule out the possibility that he might change his mind before 2016.

"I've got no plans to run in 2016, or in 2020. But you never know what's going to happen," he said. "Every two years, there's someone suggesting that I run for Senate. Every two years, the national party comes to me. I've always been really flattered. But I look around, and I have the best job in the world. I have no desire to leave."

Regarding Vanity Fair's decision to publish Brinkley's report two years after the fact, Scarborough said they had "a really good picture of Mika, and wrapped some text around it."